You may want to try when your back feels back to norm - doing an ongoing streghtnth routine for the erectors- few sets of hypers on 90 degree hyper bench, light reverse hypers and or a lower back machine. I had lower back reconstructed in 1995 at age 35 part of my rehab was not doing ab work and flexibility like most non- sport oriented places recommends but make the muscles along the spine strong like the rest of you. I use no belt I made my body become my belt . At 48 I do heavy deads , heavy overheads , squats bent over rows more now than when I was 18 years old . No pain ever . I'm also a 40 years of aikijutsu aikido judo etc in which I take turns getting slammed on my back for hours daily - no back pain ever . Your muscles can be made strong enough to hold your spine . Exercise fountain of youth
How long did it take for your back to feel normal after the reconstruction? I definitely plan on strengthening the spinal erectors when I can. They were in good shape before this latest problem. I was doing 5 sets of 10 Romanian deadlifts at 315 earlier this year.
The recent back problem never really got better. I finally saw a doctor about it this week. He thinks it's a herniated disc. I got an MRI done this morning to be sure. Hopefully I'll start some kind of rehab program next week instead of surgery. I just had two arm surgeries after a deadlifting injury last year.
I've been working around the injury over the last few months. I don't get pain with body weight squats, body weight hyperextensions, or deadlifts with just the bar. I've been going heavy with upper body lifts like bench press, machine rows with the chest pad, dips, chinups, etc. Anything that puts weight on the lower back still hurts. I've been making great progress with the upper body work, but it's been frustrating having to avoid heavy squats and deads.
